Cleveland Indians: Hall of Fame voting remains a frustrating process

The Cleveland Indians have two former players on the 2018 Hall of Fame ballot, but watching the ballots come in remains a frustrating process.

It is rather astonishing when something is clearly broken, everyone knows it, but nothing is done to fix it.

That is where we are with Hall of Fame voting, as the process remains marred by bad voters and a system that is in need of changing soon.

Cleveland Indians fans have a particular interest in the 2018 voting results as both Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel are on the ballot. Thome seems to be a lock to make it, but Vizquel’s chances are less certain.

The main issue with the voting process is those that disregard the careers of players associated with PEDs, which I get to an extent. But that doesn’t mean a statement needs to be made with a ballot.

That is what happened when Bill Livingston, of cleveland.com, submitted his 2018 ballot with votes for Thome and Vizquel. He had eight more players to choose but he only went with the two former Indians.

Voting for the Hall of Fame should be an honor and not something in which someone makes a statement by hurting the chances of others greats to miss out on enshrinement. If a voter isn’t going to vote for 10 players and does something like this, they should be stripped of voting privileges. It is that simple.

Livingston is not the only one, as other ballots have no players checked and some were clearly filled out with an agenda. This is also a by-product of not knowing if statistics are all that matters, or if star power and notoriety should factor in as well.

There is clear bias in the voting process, although that shouldn’t affect Thome’s odds of being in Cooperstown this upcoming summer. Vizquel’s chances of making it in may not be hit with too much bias, but some will argue his 11 Gold Gloves and 2,877 career hits should make him a lock.

But were Gold Gloves influenced by flashy plays? And is that hit mark as impressive when considering how long he played?

All these questions make the process a tough one as there is a clear clash between different generations of fans, which is true in any walk of life. But if we are supposed to be choosing the greats of the game, there needs to be a better system.

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I don’t know what that better system is but I do know that those abusing the current voting rules need to go.